PREFACE.

But in actual Christendom things are not so sharply defined, and there are hidden souls and hidden wants which the hymn may give expres­sion to, and set a soul free or make it apprehend God's love sometimes more effectually than the sermon; still there is very great danger of wide­spread delusion and loose apprehension of sin and grace, and the difficulty is very real. You may often find the loudest singers where the conscience is the least reached.

Only about fifteen hymns were at first ex­cluded by the Editor, but others pruned with a far more unsparing hand- they had not to get good ones to fill their places. Some forty or more have been struck out, but many of those that have not maintained their place in the first part will be found in the Appendix. Their places have been supplied from searching a great many collections, but which, for reasons stated above, furnished but few that could be introduced. A good number are original, from various quarters, these have been submitted to different brethren before being put in. Many authors may be comforted by knowing their hymns were sometimes very nice, but not suited to an assembly of saints; several have gone into the Appendix, not necessarily as

vi.